Mannering spoke to the vicar of Chadlands.

"What do you think, Prodgers? You are a parson, too, yet may be
able to see with our eyes. Surely common sense shouldn't be left
out of our calculations, even if they concern the next world?"

"I respect Mr. May's faith," answered the younger priest, "and
assuredly I believe that if we eliminate all physical and natural
causes from poor Captain May's death, then no member of our sacred
calling should fear to spend the night alone in that room. Jacob
wrestled with the angel of light. Shall the servants of God fear
to oppose a dark angel?"

"Well spoken," said Mr. May.

"But that is not all, sir," continued Noel Prodgers. "It is
impossible that we can share such certainty as you claim.
Probability lies entirely against it. This has happened twice,
remember, and each time a valuable and precious life disappears,
for causes beyond our knowledge. That, however, is no reason for
assuming the causes are beyond all human knowledge. We do not all
possess learning in physics. I would venture most earnestly to
beg you to desist, at least until much more has been done and this
famous professional man has made such researches as his genius
suggests. That is only reasonable, and reason, after all, is a
mighty gift of God--a gift, no doubt, often abused by finite beings,
who actually use it to defy the Giver--yet none the less, in its
proper place, the handmaid of faith and the light of true progress."

But Septimus May argued against him. "To shelter behind reason at